What to Bring for Camping?

Hi J.,
As an avid camper who has raised my now teenage/almost adult children as campers since their births, I may be able to give you some advice on what we do.
We always take crackers (like triscuits), chips, string cheese, cheese whiz in the can!, veggies, fruit, etc. The trick is how you store it. I go to the dollar store and pick up various sized zip loc bags. I use the gallon one's for storing larger items but you want to use the individual smaller sizes for kids snacks. First, because you can then control the portions of snacks AND its important for each child to have their own zip loc bag for multiple reasons - you then eliminate the tug of war issues of who holds the bag, and if you are camping in a sandy area you prevent sand and other debris from getting into your snack. Personally, I don't like dirt and sand in my own snack but if the kids like that - thats their choice (lol).
Another trick I've learned is how to take things like bread and chips and not have them smashed. Easy. I have a short but long clear tote that I put all of the smashable items in including things you don't want to get wet like toilet paper and paper towels.
I do have some quick food tips too. If you buy the breakfast skillet bags at Walmart (in frozen breakfast section, about $3.50) they have potatoes, onions, sausage, etc already in the bag and then buy a box of egg beaters. Mix them together in a skillet and you have instant breakfast with real food and it takes less than ten minutes. You can also buy fajita wraps and make this into breakfast burritos. It's quick, easy, inexpensive and you don't have to cut up all the ingredients and package them.
Hope this helps!
J.

Snacks: dried fruit, chex mix, trail mix, sunflower seeds, peanuts in the shell, puppy chow....
When we get sick of the same-old hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats when camping, we bring chicken to cook on the grill/over the fire....

J., hard boiled eggs are good, you can eat them as is, or make egg salad sandwhiches, we would have a big breakfast, hot usually , eggs bacon etc, then a sandwhich lunch, sandwhich , chips, drink , then we would cook dinner, but always loved oreos and milk on our camping trips, we all would sit around and just eat them and dunk them and good quality family time, so just enjoy life, and have a fun trip, D. s

If you have time; go online and look up "Camping Foods". We are big campers here and I like something different also. We do alot of the Boy Scout things, such as meal in foil and pudgy pies. Making eggs and bacon in a brown paper bag over a campfire is so much fun. We take veggies and granola or cereal bars for snacks. The library also has books with ideas for camping.

Hope this helps.

KimE

Trail mix is always good, you can make it any way you want by adding all your children's favorite cereals and candy pieces. Also, there is a version of it that you melt chocolate and peanut butter together and toss chex cereal in that and then coat with powder sugar. For some reason when my family goes camping we seem to always end up taking Cheeze-its, chips and salsa, or those sour dough pretzels, not to mention the very traditional smores components (chocolate, gram crackers, and marshmallow). Have fun camping!!

I did this the last time my husband and I went camping with some of his family (at the time, we had no kids-we have 2 now!) This is a good snack. get a big container of peanuts, a big bag of m&m's, and a large container of raisins. mix together and put into baggies, and this makes a great trail mix. Of course you can do a different combo of things, but I found that it's cheaper just to buy things individually and combine than to buy actual trail mix, and you usually get a lot more for the money!
Hope this helps!
E.

We recently made pizzas over the campfire and the kids loved it - use a tortilla shell for the crust, put your sauce, toppings and cheese on one half, fold it, and then wrap it in tinfoil to cook over the fire. Quick and easy with little clean up.

Have fun!

We use to love Banana boats when I was young. It is an old girl scout treat.

1 banana for each.. cut a oval in the middle of the top of a banana making it look like a kyak (however you spell it) taking out just a bit of the banana inside. Stuff with mini marshmellows and chocolate chips, wrap in tin foil and put in the hot coals of the fire for a little bit, letting the marshmellows and chocolate chips melt.

J.,
We just got back from camping last weekend. If you have a cooler along, I recommend yogurt tubes. Throw them in the freezer before you go and they'll thaw along the way. They are easy, healthy and not messy. We also had good results with applesauce, fruit and jello cups. If you want true snack foods and a variety, you can now get all sorts of 100 calorie packs (in boxes of 12 or so) in many great snacks - cheeze its, different varieties of cookies, etc. Satisfies many differnt tastes and you don't need lots of big bags.
Have fun!

I would suggest pepperoni on a stick over a campfire. You just put a slice of pepperoni on a stick and warm it over the campfire. Another suggestion is taking a pillsbury dinner roll, spread a little jelly or jam on it and wrap it on the end of a stick and cook it over the fire.

My favorite is pinwheels- tortillas with cream cheese, and other toppings to your liking (ham and cheese, turkey, pepperoni, olives, tomatoes, etc.) I suppose you could even do PB & J. Try the flavored tortillas for added color and taste. They are super easy to make and keep well. Look for recipe ideas on a website like recipezaar.com.

go back to the basics.... peanut butter&jelly , twinkies,ho ho's, etc.... grapes,hard boiled eggs, chex mix, tuna(and the may0), sloppy joe in the crock pot.melons(fruit you will eat),peanuts,cereal,
0 its fast food and you don't have to bring it back home!!!!! hope i was a little helpful B.

If you can cut veggies ahead of time then toss veggie kabobs and corn on the cob on the grill is good. The kids might like putting the veggies on the stick. Or they can make fruit kabobs with precut fruit.

Here is my own little recipe that my family and friends love for a little snack and they go ever so well and it is different from chips, etc... They are so quick and easy to make. Enjoy!

Ranch Crackers

1 pkg Oyster Crackers
1 pkg Dry Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
Dill Weed
Garlic Powder
1 Stick Real butter
1 freezer bag

Melt butter in microwave, put 1/2 pkg of crackers in freezer bag pour 1/2 of butter over crackers and shake to coat crackers. Pour remaining crackers in fz bag and pour remaining butter over crackers and shake. Pour 1/2 ranch seasoning over crackers, sprinkle ( to your taste start off w/ a little and can always add more if need be)garlic powder and dill weed over crakers, close bag and shake. Pour over remaining ranch seasoning and sprinkle dill weed and garllic powder over crakers shake to cover crakers, eat and enjoy! No baking and take about 5 mins to make.

They go over really well w/ my family and friends!

Thanks! :)
Becky

I'm sorry I don't have time to check the responses to see if this is there!
A healthy-ish snack that we like to do is to have banana boats. We wrap a banana, peel and all, in tinfoil and put it up to the campfire, let it sit right there in the wood. After a few minutes cut open through the tinfoil and peel. Then add icecream toppings, like caramel and strawberry and chocolate. It is like a banana split. The kids love it.

One snack that I have found that's easy and the kids love is the turkey pepperoni-It comes in a paclage from hormel and everyone just loves it and its super easy.

I'd suggest fruit. Fresh is good when kids are hot and thristy, and dried fruit is easy to pack and eat anywhere.
There is such a variety of fruit that it should be easy to find something each kid likes.
Good luck!

If you can get to a Fleet Farm or Gander Mountain, buy the Mountain House brand of prepared meals and dinners. Moutain House is the top of the line in easy to prepare camping food. My husband gets these for hunting trips. They are freeze dried but real truly gourmet dishes, that take literally 2 to 5 minutes to prepare. Just open the mylar pouches and add hot water, wait and serve. They're easy to store and because they're in water proof packs, pretty tough to ruin when it comes to weather.

It comes in individual meals or family size entrees. They range in price from $2 to $8. The food is surprisingly good. The meats, veggies, fruits etc. are real, not processed, imitation or soy products, and the serving sizes and variety of choices are great.

They have everything from steak and potatoes, spaghetti and meatballs to pasta primavera. They even have breakfast entress with real eggs, bacon etc. and desserts like blueberry cobbler, cheese-cake and more. If this is any consolation, my kids like them and eat them.. and they're picky.